and disconcerting.
You lost your previous dog to Parvo on 15-Apr, and 5 days later you have puppies of 9 weeks age that other people are going to buy from you?
First you have to assume the puppies have been exposed to Parvo. Even with disinfecting you will always have spots missed. The virus has a minimum survival time of usually 3 months, and possibly 6 months. As a general rule an animal with a virus (including humans) is most contagious and shedding virus just before and during initial symptoms, and then again when recovering. Your previous dog had plenty of opportunity to shed virus all over your yard, and house. The illness may have come like out of the blue to you, but the virus was present for a minimum of 24 hrs before then, up to 7 days.
Per immunity: Assuming the puppies had their first vaccinations at 6 weeks, and a booster at 9 weeks then with the newer vaccines 50-75% of the puppies would be protected. But in a later post you state:
This implies they had only 1 shot? If so then 10-25% of the puppies are protected. Also testing before they had their first shot would most likely turn up negative for virus, and positive for maternal antibodies from the mother's milk. This is why if you vaccine a puppy at 4 weeks you are guaranteed not to get protection (i.e. the maternal antibodies inactivate the attenuated virus in the vaccine preventing an immune reaction).I think when they had the test done before their shot, it passed
If the puppies were given an older type of vaccine, and/or for whatever reason the vaccine was mishandled during transportation or storage then that would also lower the potential immunity.
Since you are noticing a decrease in appetite of (all?) the puppies, this is clearly not a good sign. IF Parvo was not present in the environment then yes some puppies get a little tired from the vaccinations. But given the dangerous environment, you should assume that at least some of the puppies will develop Parvo. Your mobile Vet assistant should take the temperature of the puppies at least twice a day, and monitor closely in the next 7 days. If the temperature hits 103 or above then it's time to get to the Vet- immediately! Note the 103 is a temperature for an adult dog, puppies may run higher- consult with your Vet. You will need to get up every 4 hrs at night and check the puppies. If any appear depressed (non-responsive), are vomiting, or have diarrhea then again those affected get an emergency trip to the Vet. No waiting till the next morning from the night before will be too late.
The danger period will be the next 7 days. Once you get past that period then what you are seeing now will not be due to Parvo. However if a puppy just happens to wander to a spot where the virus still is viable then you can reset the 7 day incubation period. In another words until the puppies hit 12 weeks and have a booster shot at that time, the Parvo could still hit them.
Good luck to the puppies.
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